


Elsa and Jack's First Adventure

by AstridMyrna



Category: Frozen (2013), Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Gen, Let's Go Poking Things We Shouldn't Poke, Post-Frozen Canon, Pre-Rise of the Guardians Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-11
Updated: 2014-10-11
Packaged: 2018-02-20 19:28:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2440214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AstridMyrna/pseuds/AstridMyrna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After learning to control her powers, Elsa is more focused than ever to learn exactly where they came from. With the help of her new-found friend, Jack Frost, they take to the sea in search for a mysterious ice castle and the answers they've been waiting so long for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Intruder

**Author's Note:**

> I babysit a six year old who asked me to write her an Elsa and Jack Frost story for Christmas this year. The catch? Jack Frost and Elsa are obviously brother and sister because of they both have ice powers. So I decided to play with that idea in this story. Enjoy!

            Once upon a time Queen Elsa of Arendelle ruled her kingdom with honor, nobility, and fairness. After her horrifying ordeal with her out of control ice powers and nearly killing her dear sister Anna, she learned that through love, not fear, she was able to completely control her powers and enjoy them using to their fullest. She enjoyed ruling her kingdom and making sure that her people were content, and they likewise loved her as queen.

            Though all was right with the world, Elsa still found herself returning to her ice castle in the high mountains. In her solitude she pondered more deeply about her powers and where they came from. Her parents had told her that she was born with these powers. Did that mean that there were other people, somewhere out in the wide open world, who was born with the same power?

            One day as Elsa approached the tall double entrance doors of her castle, she heard a faint noise from inside. Pressing an ear against the door, she could just make out a “Woop!” and a “Wee!” yelled by someone who did not sound anything like Anna, Kristoff, or Olaf. Whoever it was, they were not invited to run around in _her_ private castle. They might be friend, but they could also be foe. Elsa braced herself as she opened the door and saw—a young man who looked around Anna’s age sliding down the long banister on the balls of his bare feet.

            He had a head of snow-white hair like hers, and he wore a brown cloak over his tan shirt and pants. As he slid down, he spun his weathered shepherd’s crook from hand to hand until he reached the bottom, flew off the banister, and skidded to a stop within inches of Elsa’s toes.

            “Who are you and what are you doing in my castle?” Elsa demanded.

            “Y-You can _see_ me?” the man gasped.

            “Of course I can see you, now answer my questions!”

            “She can see me,” he said to himself as he hopped from foot to foot in glee. “She can see me!”

            “Tell me who you are and why you are here. Now.”

            The man stood straight up and bowed before her.

            “The name’s Jack Frost, and I thought this castle was abandoned, so I thought I’d explore it. I didn’t know it was yours, princess.”

            Elsa stiffened at that. “My name is Queen Elsa of Arendelle. You are trespassing and you must leave. My castle is not open to strangers.”

            Jack Frost stood up and hit the butt of his crook against the floor.

            “Fair enough, your majesty, only there’s just one problem.”

            “Oh? What would that be?”

            “I’d love to leave, really I would, I just don’t know how. My home is back in the American colonies, but when I decided to explore a little bit I got blown over the ocean by a crazy strong wind all the way over here, and I don’t know how to get back.”

            She squinted at him. “What do you mean by ‘blown over the ocean’? You have to take a ship to get here if you’re coming from the colonies.”

            “Not if you’re a winter spirit.”

            He summoned a slight gust that propelled him to the ceiling and touched the sparkling chandelier before floating back down. Elsa’s jaw dropped at the spectacle.

            “That’s not all I can do,” he said and held his cane up to the air. It glowed blue before it shot out a strong stream of snowflakes. He grinned at Elsa’s shocked face and added, “Pretty impressive, huh?”

            “You have ice powers, I can’t believe it!”

            Jack folded his arms behind his head and said, “Well, that’s just a sample of what I can—”

            “I have ice powers too!” she said as she shot curlicue patterns of frost in the air.

            Jack’s face changed from smugness to astonishment faster than a speeding avalanche.

            “I built this castle myself and I can make living snowmen and—oh, you should come to Arendale and meet Olaf. He’s my favorite snowman I created. What else can you do?”

            “I…um…well, I can make frost pictures on windows and snow balls and…and snowdays. I can’t really build anything or…uh…create life.”

            “I can make snow days too! Oh, it’s so nice to know that I’m not the only one with powers. Wait, can you tell me how you got yours?”

            He shrugged and said coldly, “The Man in the Moon created me with these powers.”

            “Man in the Moon? You mean he’s actually real?”

            “Yup, and all he does it sit up there without saying a word. How did you get your powers?”

            “I was born with them too, but my parents don’t have ice powers. No one I know has ice powers, except for you. I guess I’ll never really know why I was born with powers,” she said quietly.

            “You’re not alone. Oh, before I forget, when I was being hauled over here, I saw another castle made of ice floating in the sea. I was wondering who made it, but I guess it was you, huh?”

            “No,” Elsa said slowly. “I’ve only made this castle, and I’ve never been at sea.”

            “Well if you didn’t make that castle, and I certainly didn’t make that castle, then that must mean…”

            They completed the sentence in unison, “There’s someone else with ice powers!”

 


	2. The Quest

            Elsa returned to her castle in Arendelle with Jack Frost in tow. She was excited to introduce her new friend to Anna and Kristoff, but when they arrived, they could not see him at all!

            “He’s standing right next to me,” Elsa said as she waved his hands around him. “He has white hair like me and a shepherd’s crook and there’s snow on his brown cloak.”

            Elsa took one of Anna’s hands to put on Jack’s shoulder, but her sister’s hand went right through it. Anna and Kristoff looked both apologetic and embarrassed.

            “I-I don’t understand,” Elsa said as she let go of Anna’s hand.

            Jack said, “I’m a _spirit_ of winter, remember?”

            “I’m sorry, Elsa,” Anna said at the same time as Jack.

            Suddenly Olaf burst into the small room with a “Hey, everybody! Why are we all looking at Elsa like she’s gone crazy?” He stopped in his tracks and gaped at Jack. “Hello teenager-who-looks-like-he-could-be-Elsa’s-long-lost-brother, my name’s Olaf, I like warm hugs!”

            “Whoa, is this one of the snowmen you were telling me about?” Jack said as he squatted down. He poked the top of Olaf’s head with his staff, which made the snowman giggle.

            “Yes, yes it is!” Elsa said. “But how can he see you?”

            “Well, you made me Elsa, and maybe we’re sharing the same hallucination. Oh, I have a dent in my head,” Olaf said.

            “Yeah, there is a dent!” Kristoff said as he kneeled next to Olaf. He turned to where Jack sat and both he and Anna gasped, “You are real!”

            Jack jumped up and perched himself on a desk chair. “You can see me too?”

            “Yes! And you have ice powers like Elsa?” Anna asked.

            “Yes, yes, we’ve already been through this but yes!”

            “Oh that’s wonderful! Elsa, I’m so glad,” Anna said as she hugged her sister in her excitement.

            Kristoff nodded. “Me too, but I wonder if there’s any more people with your kind of powers.”

            “We think there is,” Elsa said. “When Jack flew over here—”

            “Wait a second, you can _fly_?” Anna gasped.

            Jack folded his arms behind his head and grinned. “Oh yeah, I flew all the way over here with the wind on my back and my staff in hand.”

            “Unintentionally flew over here if I remember the story right,” Elsa added.

            “Yes, but I still flew over here, and on the way I saw this giant ice castle floating in the middle of the sea.”

            “Neither I nor Jack crafted it, so that means there’s a third person with ice powers, and we intend to find whoever he or she is and let them know that they are not alone.”

            “That’s a great plan and all,” Kristoff said, his arms folded and his brow bent, “but if someone goes and builds a castle in the middle of the ocean, doesn’t that mean they want to be alone?”

            “Yes, but Elsa did the same thing and look where she is now,” Anna piped up as she stood by her sister’s side.

            “Yeah, but it’s a lot easier to go to a castle in the mountains than to a castle in the middle of the sea. Whoever’s inside may not want to be found, or might be the person you never want to find. This quest is dangerous in more ways than one, Elsa.”

            “I know, which is why when I go, Anna, I may be gone for a long time. Maybe forever, I’m not sure.”

            “Elsa—” Anna whispered, her eyes glittering with held-in tears.

            “This is a personal quest. For as long as I can remember I’ve been wondering where my powers came from.”

            “You were born with them!”

            “Yes, but who else is born with my powers except for myself and a spirit of winter?  This isn’t superhuman, but supernatural. Maybe when we find this person or persons who lives in the castle on the sea, maybe they will know where our powers have come from and why.”

            Anna wiped her eyes and said, “I’ll keep the kingdom safe for you, Elsa.”

            They hugged for a long moment. When they parted, they began the plans for the great quest to find the castle. Using a star chart and Jack’s faint recollections of the star patterns as he flew over the castle, they made a rough estimation of where to look for the castle. Within a few weeks Elsa, Jack, and Olaf boarded the great wooden ship named _Frostlorn_ and waved good-bye to Anna, Kristoff, and the rest of Arendelle. They set out into the wide, blue-gray sea with the sun high and the wind at their backs.

 

 


	3. The Hopeless Storm

            “I spy with my little eye something…orange,” Olaf said as he, Elsa, and Jack each sat on large coils of rope on the ship’s deck.

            “Your nose,” Elsa and Jack said in bored unison.

            “That’s right!” the snowman giggled as he clutched his large carrot nose.

            Jack fell backwards and groaned, “Uggggh, we’ve been at this for weeks! We should have seen the castle by now. Maybe…maybe I got something wrong.”

            “Or maybe Kristoff was right. Maybe whoever lives in that castle doesn’t want to be found,” Elsa said.

            She stood up and walked to the railing, her chin cupped in her pale fist. The dark blue ocean spread out before her on this dull, gray day. Now and then the sailors looked warily upwards at the sky, fearful of the storm that was sure to come. Farther off in the distance the gray clouds smashed together into an angry black storm that the ship was desperately trying to sail away from it for the last few days.

            _They don’t want to be found_ , she thought as she stared into the storm, and then she knew where the castle had to be.

            “Jack,” Elsa said to the still-collapsed winter spirit. “When you were flying over the castle, did you have to fly through a storm to get to it?”

            “Yeah, so? Storms happen at sea all the time.”

            “But what if it wasn’t a normal storm? What if it’s used as a sort of smokescreen?”

            Jack hopped up and a grin cracked his face. “I guess there’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?”

            “Yes, there is,” Elsa said with a small smile.

            She turned to the water and with a few waves of her hand she crafted a small yet sturdy boat of ice. Jack hopped up over the railing and into the boat.

            “What, we’re going in this? Why not take the ship?” he asked.

            “I’m not going to risk the lives of the sailors on board in case we’re wrong,” Elsa answered as she climbed down an ice ladder that grew longer with each step down she took.

            “Elsa, where are ya going?” Olaf cried out.

            He held his head over the railing and gasped. Several sailors looked overboard and yelled out, “Your majesty, what are you doing?”

            “We are going to investigate the storm to see if that is where the castle is hiding. Stay within the area for at least six days,” Elsa shouted back.

            “Let us go with you!” the captain said.

            “No. This is a quest we must do ourselves. Olaf, I need you stay on board. If something happens to me, I am sure you will be the first to know about it.”

            The snowman’s big eyes grew bigger and shiny with tears, but he nodded and said, “I understand, Elsa.”

            “Quick, someone give them provisions,” the captain barked at the sailors, and soon enough the little boat was crammed with barrels of smoked fish, water, hard bread, and onions.

            “Good luck, you two!” Olaf cried out as he waved good-bye.

            The other sailors saluted them as Elsa and Jack propelled their boat away from the ship with combined gusts of icy wind. The boat practically skipped over the waves towards the menacing storm ahead.

            When they stopped for dinner, Elsa offered him some smoked eel but he waved it away.

            “Winter. Spirit. I don’t eat,” he said.

            “Right,” Elsa said. No wonder he always seemed to disappear during meal times on the ship. “I take it you don’t sleep either?”

            “No-o-o-ope. Well, I can pretend to sleep if I’m bored enough.”

            “I see,” she said as she looked at him crouched on the railing with his crook on his shoulder.  Her curiosity got the better of her. “May I ask how you were born or created?”

            “The moon lifted me from a frozen pond,” he said sharply and turned away from her.

            Elsa’s stomach twisted with regret for having touched a now-obvious sore spot. She ate in silence until Jack spoke again.

            “Darkness, that’s the first thing I remember,” he said, his face looking up at the crescent moon. “It was dark and cold and I was scared, but then I saw the moon...so big and it was so bright and it seemed to chase the darkness away. And when it did, I wasn’t scared anymore. Why I was there and what I was meant to do, that I’ve never known and a part of me wonders if I ever will.”

            “How do you know your name is Jack Frost?”

            “The moon told me so.” He turned to her, his clear blue eyes gleaming in the dim light. “That was all he ever told me and that was a long, long time ago.”

            “I hope that he will answer your questions soon.”

            “Yeah, and maybe one day he can tell you why you were born with your powers. Are you sure your mother didn’t eat a magical flower or something before you were born?”

            Elsa chuckled, “No, nothing like that. Everything was completely normal except that when I was born, the moon wasn’t full like it was for you. I was born under a new moon and it was one of the darkest nights anyone had remembered. They were afraid that there had been a curse cast upon the kingdom and that my mother would have trouble giving birth to me, but everything was fine. A few days later I sneezed so hard that snowflakes flew out my nose and we all learned that I wasn’t as normal as we thought.”

            Jack laughed so hard he fell off the boat. Luckily a breeze caught him and blew him back on deck. Later that night Elsa told Jack the rest of the story about her powers before she made a bed of snow to sleep in while Jack held watch.

            The next afternoon they arrived just at the front of the perilous storm. Elsa froze both hers and Jack’s feet to the deck so that they wouldn’t be thrown overboard by the wind and water.

            “Ready?” Elsa asked.

            “Ready,” he answered and laughed at her stony face. “Don’t look so serious. If worse comes to worse I could fly you out.”

            “Can you?”

            “I guarantee it.”

            “Let’s hope you won’t have to, then,” she said as she shook head.

            They pushed on for another half hour before they plunged into the storm. Hail fell from the sky so hard and fast that it cracked parts of the boat. Elsa had to stop propelling the boat and focus on fixing the cracks so they wouldn’t sink. Waves crashed over them and tried to drag them overboard, but Elsa’s ice boots kept them attached to the ship. Jack continued to push the boat forward with his icy wind, but the gale winds that smacked against slowed the boat down to a crawl.

            A cold lump formed in Elsa’s stomach. They had been sailing for some time in this horrible storm, certainly they would have seen the castle by now. She was hit by the thought of her parents who had died at sea. Was this the same storm that brought down their ship?

            “We…we were wrong, Jack. I was wrong. There’s no castle here,” Elsa said, her body feeling weak.

            “We won’t know until we get through this!” Jack roared over the storm.

            “There’s no getting through this.”

            “There has to be!” He shattered his ice boots that attached him to the boat with a sharp blow from his crook. “We’ve tried it your way, now let’s try mine.”

            He shattered Elsa’s ice boots, scooped her up in his scrawny arms, and jumped off towards the clouds. They were whipped around by the vicious winds, but Jack rode with their choppy turns and popped up through the dark clouds and into the brilliant blue sky.

            Though she was breathless from the sudden flight, she quickly spotted a patch of fluffy white clouds snuggled amongst the miles of black clouds.

            “Think that’s where our castle is?” Jack said.

            “Yes!” Elsa laughed, but then she said much more seriously, “I’m sorry I lost my head back there. I was scared and I…I let my fear take control of me again.”

            He shrugged and said, “Eh, it was pretty scary down there, but we’re up here now, and all we gotta do is head on down to that castle. You ready?”

            “Yes!”

            “Hang on!”

            She shrieked at first as they plummeted towards that small patch of white clouds, but his wild laugh was contagious, and soon she was laughing too. They punctured the white cloud and glided down like snowflakes to the open front gates of the magnificent ice castle that floated on the seas.

 

 


	4. The Castle

            Elsa had never seen a castle like this before. Every inch of its tall, round towers with their even taller spires were exquisitely detailed with carvings of snowflakes, curlicues, and horses. Carved into the walls of the doorless front gates were two life-sized, rearing horses whose front hooves connected to form an archway.

            As they walked down the main pathway, they were silently greeted by strangest of statues. They were in the shapes of many types of unearthly creatures. Some had the head of a moose with the body of a man, some were small as a mouse with crooked teeth for eyes, and others were smooth-skinned like whales but with a cluster of insect eyes on their mouthless faces.

            “It’s beautiful,” Jack said.

            “Yes, but what are these supposed to be?” Elsa said as she stopped by one of multi-eyed creatures.

            “Monsters, I guess,” he said with a shrug.

            “They’re so life-like. Are they even statues?”

            “Well, maybe you can bring one to life and ask it.”

            “I can’t do that.”

            “Have you even tried?”

            “No.”

            “Then how do you know?”

            “I’ve always been able to bring my own creations to life, but I’ve never exactly had practice on another person’s creations.”

            “You could practice here.”

            “That wouldn’t be right. They aren’t mine.”

            “Oh you’re no fun—whoa!” he yelped as sudden wind whisked him up in the air by his ankles.

            “Jack!”

            He twisted and turned, but still remained up in the air as if held by an invisible hand.

            “I can’t—I can’t control it! Look out!”

            Elsa turned just as a multi-eyed creature grabbed her arm with its webbed claws. She blasted it away with a gust of snowy wind, and it crashed into the lumbering moose-headed man. She froze them both together in a block of ice just as the mouse with teeth for eyes leapt in the air to bite her. It slammed into a sheet of ice Elsa instinctively raised up, and the creature slid down to the snowy ground in defeat.

            “Elsa, help!” Jack cried out as the wind blew him towards the open doors of the castle.

            A gigantic dog statue with a cat’s head as a tail charged at Elsa.

            “Get out of my way!” she yelled at it and trapped the creature in a cage of ice. It bashed its head and tail against the ice bars as she chased after the winter spirit. “Jack!”

            “Elsa!”

            He disappeared into the castle. Elsa ran up the steps and slid into the entrance hall when BOOM! The double doors slammed shut, leaving Elsa alone in the chamber, save for a black iron lantern that glowed with a silver light. It stood next to the only staircase in the doorless, windowless room, and it spiraled down, down, down into the dark dungeons of the castle. She could hear Jack yells echo from below as the mysterious wind pulled him deeper under the castle.

            Elsa took the lantern, straightened herself up, and took a deep, calming breath.

            “Hold on, Jack, I’m coming,” she whispered.

            She lighted down the ice steps and into the darkness. The glow from her lantern reflected in the lidless eyes of the numerous sea creatures that swam just outside the dungeon’s clear walls of ice. Elsa gripped her collar and looked away from the wall. She forced the thoughts of her parents’ shipwreck away. That was in the past. Jack needed her help now.

            After what felt like an eternity, the staircase came to an end and Elsa entered a tall, cold room lit by glowing blue pillars that framed the ornate throne an elfin woman sat in. Her long black hair framed her light blue face, her voluminous black furs spilled onto the floor, and her tall crown crafted out of black gems glittered in the faint light. To her left stood a staff with a glowing silver ball of light floating above it; to her right was an oval-shaped mirror that did not show Elsa’s reflection. The woman smiled as Elsa cautiously approached her.

            “You have escaped my Hopeless Storm, fought off my ice golems, and have at last come to me, Queen Elsa of Arendelle,” the woman said warmly.

            “And who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?”

            “Queen Umbra of the Moon, and the one who bestowed you with your powers.”

 

 


	5. The Queen

            Elsa stood rooted to the spot, her stately manner shaken.

            “Forgive me for disagreeing with you, Queen Umbra, but I was born with these powers.”

            “You are partially correct. I bestowed you with your powers shortly before you were born.”

            “How? I have never heard of you before.”

            “Similar to how the Man in the Moon bestows powers to his ‘Guardians’. Oh, where are my manners. Have a seat.”

            A tall-backed ice chair rose from the floor behind Elsa. Elsa gingerly sat down on the edge of the rather hard chair.

            “There, now where was I? Oh yes, I lived on the dark side of the moon, while the Man in the Moon stayed on the lit side. He protects children’s hopes and dreams from Pitch Black, you know, and he bestows powers to rather dull people to help him do so. Take this boy for example.”

            From behind one of the pillars Jack walked to Umbra’s throne and kneeled by her side. His crook hung loosely in his hand and his blue eyes were gray with frost. Elsa gripped the arms of her chair, but restrained herself from calling out to him. Umbra had to be controlling him, but how?

            Umbra continued, “See, he doesn’t remember it, but he was actually _alive_ at one point, but ended up getting himself killed and the Man in the Moon changed him into a winter spirit so he could be one of his Guardians one day. Well, if he could do it, why couldn’t I? Instead of changing the dead, though, I decided to change the living. After much deliberation, I decided to take my chances with you. I’m happy to see that my gifts weren’t wasted.”

            Elsa swallowed hard and answered in a relaxed tone that hid her shock and fright, “I’m glad to have not disappointed you. Is that why you’ve led us here, to see how I’ve progressed?”

            “Again, you are partially correct. As you can see, we are floating in the middle of the ocean, not on the moon.”

            “Yes, I did notice that. May I ask why?”

            “I’m glad you did. You see, I once had a vast kingdom on my side of the moon, until the Man in the Moon showed up. Once they saw how powerful he was, more and more of my subjects left my dark kingdom and went to go have fun in his light. I only had a scant few of my subjects remaining, and with them I tried to kick the Man off the moon and regain my kingdom. Needless to say that didn’t work. I was thrown off the moon and my most loyal subjects have been without a queen in many years. I would have returned to the moon by myself if I could, but I can’t. Now that you and the boy are here, we will be powerful enough to return to the moon and claim all of it.”

            “I’m not sure just the three of us would be able to do so against so great an army.”

            “We do not need any army. Three is a powerful number, Elsa, especially a well-balanced three. With the powers of the living,” Umbra said and pointed at Elsa, “the dead,” she pointed at Jack,  “and the eternal,” she pointed to herself, “nothing will stand in our way.”

            Elsa was filled with dread as the taller woman stared her down. There had to be a way to get herself and Jack out of here that didn’t involve them attempting to take over the moon.

            “While that is a gracious offer, if I could speak with Jack in private for a moment to discuss it—”

            “It wasn’t an offer,” Umbra said, her smile gone.

            A sharp sudden pain ran through Elsa’s body. She looked down and saw an almost invisible shard of ice sinking into her chest. Elsa doubled over in pain and fear. Umbra must have done the same trick to control Jack. Tears formed in Elsa’s eyes as she thought of Anna and the look on her face when she would learn that Elsa wasn’t coming home.

            No, she couldn’t do that to Anna. She couldn’t!

            The pain began to fade away, but Elsa still felt like herself. Still folded over, she looked at the shard and saw it sliding away from her heart and melt into her hand. If she could melt this treacherous piece of ice, what else could she melt? She knew what she had to try to do, but she had to play as Umbra’s puppet to do it.

            Elsa slowly rose until she was sitting straight up in her chair and kept her face looking as bored as it could be. Umbra smiled again.

            “Feeling better, Elsa?”

            “Yes, Queen Umbra,” Elsa answered flatly, hoping that Umbra’s long ears could not hear her heart pounding in her chest.

            “Good. Come, children, we have much to do before the day’s out.”

            “Yes, Queen Umbra,” Jack and Elsa said in unison.

            Elsa held back a sigh of relief as she Umbra plucked up her staff and mirror and led the two up the spiraling staircase. Elsa glanced at Jack from time to time to see if he was faking too, but the dull look in his eyes showed otherwise.

            At long last they reached the top of staircase. The double doors flew open for Umbra as she passed through them and stopped at the top step of the smaller entrance staircase. Elsa and Jack stopped underneath the archway. Elsa examined it for a moment and waited.

            Umbra rose her arms and called her small army of ice golems to her.

            “Oh, you have served me well, my little imitations—” she said.

            Elsa inched closer to the wall until her fingers could just touch it.

            “—and listen well. We shall be heading for the moon—”

            This might not work. Sure, she could melt a little of Umbra’s ice, but…

            “—and you will have your day in combat. And after the glorious battle—”

            There wasn’t time to second-guess her self. It had to work!

            “—I will finally have my kingdom and my full strength!”

            Elsa pressed her hands against the wall, closed her eyes and concentrated. In one heartbeat she could feel every inch of ice Umbra had constructed. In another she willed it to melt away.

            “No!” Umbra screamed.

            Elsa opened her eyes and watched the magnificent castle and the ice golems that protected for who knew how many years before transforming into harmless snowflakes.

Destroying Umbra’s castle took so much energy that she was too tired to even scream as she fell towards the dark, frigid waters.

            “Elsa!” Jack shouted as he dived after her and caught her just before she hit the water. “You okay?”

            She looked up at him. The gray frost melted into tears that ran down his pale face.

            “Ye—oh no,” she groaned.

            They both looked up and saw Queen Umbra floating in midair, the Hopeless Storm raging around them all. In the light Elsa saw the near invisible shards of ice flying towards them and rose her hand to melt them, but Jack knocked them away with his staff.

            “You won’t hypnotize us this time, Umbra!”

            She pointed at them with her staff and snarled, “You will come with me, whether you like it or not.”

            Ice bloomed from Jack and Elsa’s feet and grew like crystal up their legs.

            “Together?” Jack asked Elsa as he pointed his crook towards Umbra.

            “Together!” Elsa answered as she held her hand behind the crook.

            Their separate ice blasts twisted together into one shrieking blast that engulfed the moon queen in its white light. The ice on Jack and Elsa’s legs melted away and the storm clouds dispersed. They stopped their attack on the queen and the light faded away, showing a glimpse of Queen Umbra frozen in a queen-sized snowflake before falling into the ocean and disappearing into its depths.

            “Did we…?” Jack started, but couldn’t finish her sentence.

            “No, we didn’t kill her,” Elsa sighed, feeling absolutely exhausted. “She’s eternal. She has no beginning and no end.”

            “So what you’re saying is that she’ll probably be back? Well, if we see an endless snowstorm on the sea again, we’ll know what to do. Great job melting her castle, by the way, I didn’t know you could that!”

            “I didn’t either. I could melt my creations, but I had no idea I could melt others until I tried it.”

            “I wonder how long it’ll take for her to thaw out.”

            “Who knows. I’ve never combined my powers with another person’s,” she sighed as she closed her eyes.

            “Hey, you okay?”

            “Yes, just tired. Let me know when we get to the ship.”

            “Sure,” he said softly before flying out into the open ocean in search of the ship, both their minds at ease knowing that Queen Umbra was, for now at least, not going to stir up more trouble.

 

 

 


	6. The Return

            “Elsa! Jack! You’re okay!” Olaf cried as Jack and Elsa landed on _Frostlorn’s_ deck.

            “Why wouldn’t we?” Elsa asked as she kneeled by the weeping snowman.

            “Because your boat came back to our boat, but you weren’t in it and all your supplies were gone! We had no idea what happened to you, but I’m so happy to see you both okay.” He hugged both of them as best he could with his twig arms. “Now we can go home.”

            “Yes, but first we have to bring Jack back to his home in the colonies.”

            “Oh, right. What are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

            And so they went, sailing west until they docked along the Pennsylvania coastline. Elsa snuck out of the ship and followed Jack through the dense forest to the moonlit lake that rippled quietly in the late summer night.

            “So this is your home,” Elsa said as they watched lily pads float along the water.

            “I guess you can call it that. I know there’s not much to it, but eh, what can you do?” he said with his usual grin.

            “It’s lovely,” she said, but her smile fell. It was time to finally tell him what Umbra told her. “Look, Jack, Umbra told me that when she lived on the moon, she was the one that gave me my powers.”

            “Whoa, really?”

            “Yes, and since your powers come from the Man in the Moon, maybe that’s why I could see you even though I had never heard of a Jack Frost before.”

            “I thought you could see me because you had ice powers, but I guess your theory makes more sense. Did Umbra tell you why she gave you your powers?”

            “Because the Man in the Moon created you and she wanted to out-do him.”

            “No word on why he created me in the first place?”

            “No.”

            He crossed his arms and pouted. Elsa debated herself on whether or not she should tell Jack that he was once alive. She understood his frustration at not knowing why he was what he was, as she had been frustrated with those similar thoughts. However, now that Elsa knew the awful truth about the origins of her powers, she wondered if she was better off not knowing in the first place. She also didn’t know the whole story behind Jack’s creation. It would be better, perhaps, to wait and find the whole truth before telling it to him. She stepped onto the pond, its surfacing freezing beneath her feet. Elsa pointed to the moon and said, “Since our powers came from the moon, that makes us brother and sister in a way, wouldn’t you say?”

            He stared at her for a moment before joining her on the ice.

            “I don’t know,” he said, folding his arms behind his head. “I never had a sister before, but I wouldn’t mind having one.”

            “I never had a brother before either and I wouldn’t mind having one, and I don’t think Anna would mind either.”

            “Yeesh, two sisters at once? I don’t know if I can handle that, but I’ll try,” he said with a grin.

            “Good. You promise to visit us soon?”

            “Of course, especially now that I know my way around the world a little better. Thanks for taking me back home.”

            “You’re welcome,” Elsa said, a hot lump growing in her throat. “Good bye, Jack.”

            They hugged for a long moment.

            “I’ll be seeing you again soon, Elsa,” he said softly as they let go of each other.

            He hitched a ride on a cool wind and disappeared into the night.

*

            After a two-month long voyage back across the Atlantic Ocean, the ship returned to Arendelle safe and sound. Elsa, Olaf, and the ship’s crew were greeted with trumpets, confetti, and cheering citizens who bordered the main road back to the castle.

            “Home sweet home,” Olaf said as he waved to his fans.

            “You can say that again,” Elsa said, also waving as she rode the white horse provided for her by one of the royal guard.

            “Home sweet—”

            “ELSA!” Anna shouted over the crowds.

            Anna rode her horse as quick as she could to Elsa, her hair ribbons flying off into the street. Riding side-by-side, Anna threw her arms around Elsa and hugged her as tight as she could.

            “Elsa, you’re back! Were you able to find the ice castle? Where’s Jack?”

            Anna let go of her sister and Elsa had to take a few breaths before she could answer.

            “And a lot more, but I’ll explain it all once we’re inside. It’s good to see you again, Anna,” she said before hugging her sister just as tightly.

            Once Elsa had explained to Anna and Kristoff all that had happened, they put extra guards to be on alert for raging magical queens from the moon. As the months passed, however, there was no sight of the queen or of Jack. Hopefully this meant that the queen was still frozen at the bottom of the ocean and that Jack was still safe. Hopefully.

            Elsa found herself once again trekking up the mountainside to be alone in her ice castle, something she hadn’t done since she and Jack left to look for Umbra’s castle.

            As she approached the front doors, she heard a faint “Woop!” and “Whee!” She blew the doors open and watched Jack Frost slide down the banister on the soles of his bare feet, fly off it, and skid to a stop in front of her.

            “Hello Elsa,” he laughed, “I was hoping to find you here, and I did!”

            Elsa folded her arms and scowled. “Get lost again?”

            He scratched the back of his head and laughed again, only much more nervously. “Yes. A lot. I did just find your castle, though, and was going to go to Arendelle.”

            “It took you long enough,” she said and hugged him.

            He hugged her back and they both laughed as he twirled her in the air. It was good to have her brother back, and Elsa would make sure that he stayed in Arendelle a lot longer this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta-daaaa! All done, hope ya liked it. The second book will come out sometime in late January, and definitely before Valentine's Day, and the last book will be before the girl-child's birthday in April. Originally it was only supposed to be one freaking book, but I've spent too much time and character development to let go of Umbra that easily. The second book's going to be a lot more morose, so I might tape a packet of tissues with it when I give it to the girl-child.


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